GIS in Mexico’s Capital City

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending the SIGSA user conference down in Mexico City. SIGSA is an Esri® partner and this event is similar to an Esri user conference for local GIS and government agencies. They also work closely with us here at Harris, and are distributors of ENVI image analysis software in Mexico.

The venue for the conference was the Marriott Reforma in theZona Rosa portion of the city. The entire conference was really well put together from check-in all the way to the final presentation. Participants included Harris, Esri, SIGSA®, DigitalGlobe™ Inc., TomTom®, Microsoft®, and more.  The content was extremely engaging and all of the people I met were very welcoming and friendly.

 In fact, there was a tangible sense of excitement at the conference that is often missing from some of the other conferences I’ve been to state-side this year. I attribute this to the growth of GIS in Mexico over the last few years. SIGSA has seen their business take off as more and more government and private agencies are using GIS technology to complement their business and activities.

For my part, I had two presentations during the conference,one focused on integration between ENVI and ArcGIS, and one that looked at some user scenarios that leveraged the integration between the two software packages. They both went well, particularly considering I chose to present in Spanish (major kudos to my high school Spanish teachers for their hard work and effort!)

In the end, this was an experience that I won’t soon forget. I attend quite a few conferences every year and this one seemed somehow different. Not just because I was speaking a different language, but for the enthusiasm and energy that I felt throughout the entire three days I was there.The folks who staffed the SIGSA booth were knowledgeable and friendly, and were genuinely interested in the insights I had to offer on GIS, remote sensing, and the industry in general. 

I’m excited to see how SIGSA develops over the next year, and to see what kind of new solutions they’ll be bringing to local business and the Mexican government in the near future. Hopefully I will get invited back next year, and if I’m smart, I’ll take the time to freshen up on my español prior to heading down there!

For more information on the SIGSA User Conference and the different businesses involved, click on this link.